#ThrowbackThursday: Foyt vs. Luyendyk at TMS

Ahead of this weekend's IndyCar return to Texas Motor Speedway, here's a lighthearted memory from the beginning of Indy car racing's history at the Lone Star State oval.

For those unfamiliar with the Indy Racing League's June 1997 True Value 500k, it ended in a cloud of controversy over the correct race winner. Billy Boat, a rookie driver for AJ Foyt Racing, crossed the finish line first and initially was declared the winner. While Boat, Foyt and the team were celebrating in Victory Lane, an upset and vocal Luyendyk entered to contest the victory. Foyt took offense to Luyendyk crashing the party and delivered "The Slap Heard Around The World."

Here's how ESPN's Keith Olbermann recounted the antics at the time:

Luyendyk, however, won his protest the next day as USAC – the sanctioning body for IRL events at the time – cited malfunctioning timing and scoring equipment and credited him with leading the final 19 laps en route to the victory. However, the original winner's trophy was long gone as Foyt packed it in his car as he and his wife, Lucy, headed to their lake house in Austin following the race.

"Let me start out by saying that we did win the first Indy car race at Texas Motor Speedway," Foyt recounted in Texas Motor Speedway's "10 Years Strong" book that commemorated the top moments of the speedway's first decade of existence. "There is no doubt in my mind about that. Billy Boat took the checkered flag before thousands of fans on a hot Saturday night. And I'll tell you one more thing. If the race had been run by officials of the current Indy Racing League or NASCAR, the record books would show that Billy Boat won that race. Instead, the records say that Arie Luyendyk won.

"Oh and by the way, Billy won the race at Texas Motor Speedway the next year too. And we have the trophies sitting side by side."

Luyendyk received a replica of the original True Value 500k trophy, but TMS President Eddie Gossage reminded Foyt every time he saw him that he wanted that trophy back. Until now.

“Ever since 1997, I’ve been trying to get back the True Value 500k winner’s trophy from A.J. since Arie Luyendyk was named the rightful winner of that controversial Indy Racing League race,” Gossage said earlier this year. “What better gift than acknowledge that it is his to keep now and forever and I will no longer badger him about giving it back. All I ask is that he puts a bow on it and changes the nameplate to “’Happy 80th A.J. – Keep Up The Good Fight!’”

Source: TMS